


The Tip of the Arrow

by Lastly



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-13 21:53:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16900512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lastly/pseuds/Lastly
Summary: Kassandra and Daphnae go out to deal with some cultists but run into some trouble...





	The Tip of the Arrow

Daphnae let out a small sigh. She didn't like this plan. Kassandra probably knew that she didn't like this plan. But Kassandra was always so insistent and could be very persuasive when it came to this sort of thing. Daphnae felt the fletching of the arrows in her quiver, silently counting how many she had while she watched the Followers of Ares move around in the camp down below. Kassandra wanted her to wait here in this bush nestled between two large boulders amidst the thick trees of the forest so that she could stealthily provide support if she needed it. 

_If she needed it? More like when she needed it. Damn misthios is too headstrong for her own good sometimes._ thought Daphnae. Daphnae had suggested that they both sneak down there and strike at the same time instead of Kassandra trying to quietly take the whole camp on herself. But the misthios had prevailed and here they were, ready to enact her plan.

The cultists were completely unprepared. They thought that they had managed to sneak onto Chios unnoticed but nothing escaped the watchful eyes of the Daughters of Artemis. When word had gotten to Daphnae and Kassandra that a small group of cultists had come here they immediately jumped at the opportunity to rid the world of a few more cultists. Sure, they could have sent a few of the Daughters to do it; the Daughters were all skilled huntresses and more than capable of taking out the half dozen or so cultists but the two of them hadn't worked together like this in a while and missed the thrill of fighting together and having each others backs.

One of the cultists suddenly disappeared into a bush that they had been walking past. Kassandra had an interesting way of working; from this far off the image of a human suddenly being swallowed by a bush was almost comical. Luckily, none of the other cultists had seemed to notice the disappearance of their friend. However, Kassandra wasn't quite so lucky when she went to take out a second of the cultists. She successfully shoved her blade through the man's chest but his death yelp was loud enough that one of his allies looked over just in time to see Kassandra withdraw her blade and try to drag the freshly dead body back into the bushes.

"Intruder!" he yelled out, picking up his own spear off the ground next to him. The other three cultists all jumped to action as well, fumbling for whatever weapons they could find laying about the camp. Daphnae let out another sigh as she drew back her first arrow and let it loose. The arrow flew straight and true, easily sliding in to its intended destination: the exposed neck of a cultist carrying a large shield and an axe, causing the man to drop to the ground, dead in nearly an instant.

Kassandra leaped towards the spear-wielding cultist, her Spartan aggression on full display. One swing of her sword knocked the spear out of her way and almost knocked it out of the cultist's hands. She took advantage of the opening and swiftly swung her spear, leaving a large cut across the cultist's chest. She stomped on the spear, forcing it out of the cultist's hand and to the ground, and drove both her blades into the cultist's chest. She withdrew them both just as quickly, spraying the cultist's blood all across herself and the ground.

Daphnae couldn't help but admire her partner's amazing ability to fight. Her bravery combined with her skill made her nearly unstoppable. Unfortunately, Daphnae was perhaps a bit too astonished as she nearly missed the fact that the final cultist had drawn a bow and was about to fire upon Kassandra's back. Daphnae gasped and drew an arrow as fast as she could. She didn't have time to carefully aim so she fell back on her instincts and let her muscle memory take over. She was just a moment too slow as her arrow pierced the cultist's hand just after he had let his own arrow go. The cultist's arrow caught Kassandra just as she turned to face him and became embedded in her shoulder, causing her to yelp and even stagger backwards. Daphnae fired a second arrow, this time taking a moment to carefully line up this shot and lodged her arrow in the cultist's neck. The cultist grasped at his throat with his free hand and collapsed to his knees, surely nearly dead now, but Daphnae wouldn't let him go easily. She fired another arrow into his heart and then rapidly fired one last one through his head. She had briefly considered letting him bleed out slowly instead but the allure of sticking him full of arrows the way a seamstress filled a pincushion was too tempting and the resulting catharsis was too great for her to overcome.

Before the final cultist had even hit the ground, Daphnae had dashed out of the bush she had been hiding in and made her way to Kassandra's side. The Spartan woman was doing her best to make it look like the wound didn't hurt but even for her that was a hard trick to pull of. She grasped the shaft of the arrow and snapped it off, knowing that trying to pull the arrowhead out now could only do more harm than good. When Daphnae reached Kassandra's side she immediately dropped her bow to the ground and started inspecting the wound.

"It's fine, really. He didn't hit anything important." Kassandra tried to assure Daphnae.

"He hit _you_ " Daphnae muttered under her breath as she examined the wound. Kassandra was technically correct in that it hadn't hit any vital organs but Daphnae didn't like Kassandra's phrasing. 

"Come on, we'll just get back to VILLAGE and get it cleaned and bandaged and..." Kassandra's voice trailed off and turned in to a groan. Her grip on her sword and spear loosened and the blades dropped to the ground.

"Kassandra!!" Daphnae shouted. She grabbed her partner before she collapsed to the ground but it seemed like her yell fell on deaf ears. Kassandra was still breathing but didn't respond to Daphnae at all. 

"Of course the malakas cultists would use some kind of poison..." she muttered. Daphnae quickly gathered up their weapons and picked up Kassandra in her arms and started making her way towards the nearest dirt trail. Daphnae lacked in raw strength compared to Kassandra but she would use every ounce to move every mountain she needed to in order to save her partner.

Daphnae burst through the trees onto the dirt trail and ran as fast as she could Northwards, towards the village the Daughters of Artemis called home. Her vision tried to blur as a few tears started to form in the corners of her eyes but she squeezed them shut and held back the tears. She couldn't start now. She needed to get Kassandra back first. It wasn't long before she heard some hooves behind her. It could have been any number of animals galloping towards her but something in her knew that it was Phobos. At times it seemed like that horse had an almost supernatural connection to Kassandra. Daphnae stopped running and turned to see that it was indeed Phobos approaching her. She quickly got Kassandra situated on Phobos's back and then climbed up herself. She sat Kassandra in front of her so she could wrap her arm around the misthios' waist to be extra sure that she wouldn't fall off. As soon as her free hand gripped the reins Phobos took off immediately. 

The three of them galloped along the trail. Phobos seemed to know what to do and didn't need any instructions from Daphnae, so she focusing mostly on making sure that there weren't any low-hanging branches that could potentially hit herself or Kassandra. Chios was a relatively small island amongst the Greek archipelagos so it didn't take Phobos too long to get to the village. Once they were through the gate, Daphnae led Phobos to the healer's hut and hopped off of Phobos before they had even fully come to a stop. She quickly pulled Kassandra down and carried her into the hut and did her best to quickly but gently lay her down on the floor.

"Please, it's some kind of poison, you need to help her." Daphnae rushed to get the words out. The healer looked over Kassandra and then leaned in to check the wound. She gently dislodged the arrow from Kassandra's shoulder, causing her to reflexively gasp and moan in pain. The healer held up the arrowhead and examined it closely. 

"Ah, I see what they've done. Alright then." the healer muttered and then set the arrowhead aside and began digging through a box of supplies.

"Please, if there's anything I can do, let me know. I'll do anything I can to help her, please." Daphnae said. 

"Take off her armor, it'll only get in the way." Daphnae nodded and began to loosen all the straps holding Kassandra's leather chestpiece in place. Despite how much her hands were shaking, Daphnae was able to remove the leather quickly thanks to the numerous nights they had spent together almost being practice for this specific moment. Concern grew on Daphnae's face as she gazed at Kassandra. A few locks of hair had come loose from Kassandra's braid and Daphnae gently brushed them out of the way. She couldn't help it now and a few tears escaped her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. She knew that Kassandra was tough enough to survive anything but she still couldn't help but worry about her. The healer startled her when she held some herbs in front of Daphnae's face.

"There's a hill just north of here. Find more of this herb there. Get plenty of it, I'll need it." The healer wasn't even looking at Daphnae while she spoke; she was using her free hand to continue digging through her various supplies. Without saying anything, Daphnae grasped the herbs and dashed out of the hut.

All the commotion had caused quite a crowd to collect outside of the healer's hut. Even Ikaros had come down and settled on a branch nearby, clearly aware that something was wrong.

"Move!" Daphnae shouted as she shoved her way through the group of Daughters and hopped back onto Phobos. 

She moved automatically, her mind clouded with thoughts of Kassandra. The image of her laying on the ground, eyes closed, her chest slowly moving as she breathed was burned in to her mind. She guided Phobos to the hill without even thinking about where she was going. She mindlessly picked as much of the specified herb as she could hold, her mind filled with the sweet soft sound of Kassandra's voice; the way she was so gentle when they were alone but so commanding when she needed to be. She wanted to make sure she heard it again. She _needed_ to hear it again. 

Daphnae climbed back on Phobos and turned back towards the village. She couldn't imagine a world without Kassandra's soft touch and her careful grip. She needed to feel Kassandra's strong hands hold her again. She couldn't bare the thought that the previous night might have been the final time. 

Phobos came to a stop just outside the healer's hut and Daphnae quickly hopped off and sped inside. The crowd of Daughters that had gathered earlier had spread out a bit. They seemed to know better than to investigate inside the hut but they all wanted to be around as soon as news of what was going on was going to be announced. They had all moved away from the entrance, giving Daphnae a clear path into the hut. Daphnae strode into the hut and was surprised at what she saw. The healer was just sitting, leaning against the wall, smoking a pipe and Kassandra had been fully bandaged. 

"I... I thought you said you needed these?" Daphnae held out the bundle of herbs that she had gathered.

"Oh, I do. But not for her." the healer replied, using her pipe to gesture at Kassandra. "I've done all I can for her, she just needs time now." Part of Daphnae wanted to be angry at the healer for sending her on an unnecessary errand but she was too focused on Kassandra. She tossed the herbs onto the ground next the healer's supply box and then took a seat next to Kassandra.

"She isn't out of the woods yet. The poison they used doesn't have an exact cure but I did what I could to slow it down. The rest is up to her. She seems strong, I'm sure she'll be fine." the healer calmly explained. She stood up and began towards the door, pausing for a moment next to Daphnae. She placed a hand on Daphnae's shoulder, "I'll leave you two alone now. Just don't try to move her around." and with that the healer exited the hut. Daphnae sat in silence while she stared at Kassandra. She could hear the healer outside telling all the Daughters who had gathered around what was going on and that they should stay outside and give the two of them their privacy.

Daphnae brushed Kassandra's hair with her hand, leaned down, and kissed her forehead. "Oh you malakas, you always have to do things your way. You always want to fight... just... please don't stop fighting now..." she whispered. She couldn't hold them back any more and tears began to openly roll down her cheeks. She sat upright again but kept one hand brushing Kassandra's hair. She moved her other hand to grasp Kassandra's and just held it, occasionally squeezing it. 

Daphnae stayed there, almost completely motionless, for hours. Eventually one Daughter poked inside of the hut to offer Daphnae a bowl of stew which she accepted. 

A while later, the same Daughter came back with some fur blankets and pillows. It seems they had assumed that Daphnae would want to spend the night in the hut with Kassandra and they had assumed correctly. As she handed over the blankets, she noticed that the bowl she had brought earlier was still full. The stew had almost certainly gone cold by now.

"Please don't forget to take care of yourself." the Daughter said. Daphnae didn't directly respond to her, instead only giving her a sideways glare that let the Daughter know that it would've been better to say nothing at all. "Ah I'm... sorry." she quietly said as she left the hut. Daphnae laid one of the larger furs over Kassandra's slumbering body, careful not to touch the area around the arrow wound.

Daphnae wrapped herself up in one of the other furs and laid down next to Kassandra, making sure she could still hold on to her hand. She didn't feel the need to sleep and she didn't particularly want to either but she knew that if she didn't then Kassandra would never let her hear the end of it if she woke up. When. _When_ she woke up, Daphnae corrected herself. She laid her head down on the pillow and watched Kassandra who had begun to breath at a steadier pace but didn't seem to show any signs of waking up yet. She closed her eyes and slowly drifted away to sleep.

The night was quiet, both inside the healer's hut and across the entire village. The Daughters of Artemis knew how important Kassandra was to Daphnae. They were able to recognize just how strong the two women loved each other and so out of respect they kept the whole village quiet while they waited for Kassandra to recover. The entire night there was an uneasy tension over the village as everyone waited to hear about Kassandra. At times, the quiet and the tension made it feel like time was slowing down to a crawl and that the night would never end. But eventually it did. The sun eventually rose.

A sliver of sunlight snuck into the hut and splashed across Daphnae's face, slightly stirring her. She slowly opened her eyes, only now realizing that she must have been much more tired than she had initially thought she had been. She rubbed her eyes once and as her vision came into focus she saw Kassandra staring back at her, a small smile on her face.

"Good morning" Kassandra's lips moved but the words barely came out due to how weak she was. Daphnae's mouth was agape and tears were already starting to form in her eyes. Kassandra gave Daphnae's hand a light squeeze as well which cause Daphnae to begin openly crying again. Daphnae rolled over and perched herself over top of Kassandra and kissed her, feeling the soft touch of her sweet lips once more. She place her hands on Kassandra's cheeks, her warmth felt precious to her like a treasure that she never wanted to lose.

"Don't you ever do that again, you malakas..." Daphnae murmured. "You nearly died..." she trailed off as more tears rolled off her cheeks and fell onto Kassandra's face.

"I can't die, I'm Kassandra the Eagle-Bearer. Haven't you heard of me?" she said with a grin and a small chuckle. Daphnae laughed through her tears and kissed Kassandra again.


End file.
